Virginia city declares itself a Second Amendment sanctuary

The high water mark for the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement in Virginia came back in late 2019 and early 2020, when in a matter of weeks more than 100 towns, cities, and counties across the commonwealth approved resolutions (and in a few cases, actual ordinances) vowing not to enforce any new gun control measures imposed by either the federal or state governments.

The impetus for the massive outpouring of support for the right to keep and bear arms was the Democratic takeover of the state legislature, which was immediately followed by then-Gov. Ralph Northam’s push to ban so-called assault weapons.

That bill ultimately failed in the Democrat-controlled state Senate, and Republicans took back control of the House of Delegates as well as all statewide offices in 2021, which ended the immediate threat of anti-gun legislation being signed into law.